South African pace bowler Vernon Philander has warned India that their superlative Test record in the last two years will matter little when the series begins in Cape Town on Friday.
India are coming into the series off a strong Test season in 2017 where they lost only one Test match. Virat Kohli’s men have lost only two Tests since January 2015 and the last time they conceded a Test series was in Australia in late 2014.
When India hosted South Africa in 2015, Kohli’s team ended up winning the series 3-0. However, barring a brief series in the West Indies, the Indian team has not played outside the subcontinent since that Australia tour. India have also never won a Test series in South Africa.
“They have played most of their games at home so it will be interesting to see how they go over here in South Africa,” Philander said, as quoted by sport24.
“It’s a total different ball game over here in South Africa so we’ll have to wait and see. We want to play our best cricket. 2015 was quite a different one going there and losing to them, but we want to make sure that we deliver at home on our own soil,” he added.
Philander also said that his team was not singling out Kohli as the crucial wicket to take during the series. The Indian captain is coming off a spectacular 2017, during which he hit three double centuries in compiling 1,059 Test runs at an average of 75.64.
However, Philander said that all 10 Indian wickets were crucial for South Africa. “We are going to play bat and ball, not any names,” he said.
“We are going to have to have to get Virat out, as we do nine or 10 other Indian batters as well. We’ve put our prize on bowling them out twice and not focusing on who we are bowling against,” he added.
The first of the three Test matches in the series starts at Newlands on Friday.
With inputs from AFP
